They Call It Revenge
by Nutella Swirl
Summary: Sequel to "The Darkness Within." Following the Shredder's death, Karai seeks revenge on the turtles. Nothing can stop her... except for a long hidden secret that finally becomes unveiled. What follows is a series of events that may just change her life forever. (2k12 verse)
1. Truly Alone

**A/N: This is a sequel to my fanfic** ** _The Darkness Within._** **If you haven't read it yet, I recommend doing so, otherwise this story won't make too much sense.**

 **I know the title isn't that great... if I can come up with something better, I'll change it!**

 **This is AU, like** ** _The Darkness Within_** **, so some things will be different than the show. One thing you should know is that neither the turtles nor Karai know that Karai is actually Miwa, Splinter's daughter. Also, Karai is not mutated.**

 ***This chapter takes place during Chapter 14 of _The Darkness Within,_ but from a different POV.**

 **I don't own TMNT.**

* * *

Karai was sprawled on her comfy bed. Her blanket and pillow were soft and fuzzy. The comforting bed, as well as the peaceful, quiet atmosphere, should have put her to sleep and given her sweet dreams. But it only seemed to prevent that.

She was still breathing heavily, her eyes still wide open, as she tried to convince herself that she just had a nightmare. It wasn't real.

But it had felt too real.

The images were still in her head...

 _She couldn't move. She could only watch as Splinter pushed the Shredder, her father, off the edge of the cliff..._

 _She couldn't move. She could only hear his screams, his screams that were too loud for her to bear..._

 _She couldn't move. She could only look in panic as Splinter turned to her, his brown eyes filled with anger and vengeance..._

 _She couldn't move. She could only feel the terror as the sword came right at her, right at her throat, its purpose to kill..._

Karai shook her head to clear the images and thoughts out of her mind. _No._ The turtles' mutant rat father hadn't killed her dad, or herself. Instead, her father had killed _him_ in revenge.

She knew the story: Back in Japan, Splinter - then Yoshi - leader of the Hamato clan; and her father, Saki, leader of the Foot clan; had been such good friends. Almost brothers.

When they became older, Saki met a women named Tang Shen. She was beautiful, with long, jet black hair and sweet dark brown eyes. It wasn't long till her fell in love with her and married her.

All would have been good, expect Yoshi had fallen for Shen, too. He hid his anger that Saki had Shen, not him, till Karai had been born. By then the anger had consumed him like a demon, turning his heart black and poisoning his mind with hatred. Only one thing was on his mind: _revenge._

And so he started a fight between himself and Saki in Saki's house. They brutally lashed out at each other for hours, fighting and fighting.

In the fight, a candle tipped over, setting the house on fire. Shen tried to intervene and stop the fight, but Saki told her to flee. She tried to, but the fire consumed her.

By the time Saki and Yoshi found out, it had been too late.

Tang Shen was dead.

Yoshi fled, too scared and grieved to fight his "brother," while Saki mourned over the loss of his wife, holding her in his hands, giving her one last kiss.

The house was burning even more. Saki had no choice but to leave Shen and grab Karai, who had been crying the whole time. Karai had been stuck in a corner, and the flames were nearing her. Saki bravely grabbed her, whisking her away from the fire and out of the house. He had badly burnt his face in the scars were still there today.

Wanting to escape his past, Saki moved to America, where he was now, running the Foot clan like before. He renamed himself the "Shredder" and was almost never seen without his mask, armor, and gauntlets.

He had trained his daughter, Karai, to be the strong kunoichi she was now.

Karai sighed sadly as the story came to an end. She couldn't remember her mother at all. All she had was a black-and-white picture of Tang Shen holding her as a baby. Her father had also been in the picture, but Splinter had ripped it off, according to Saki.

She fumbled in her pocket to get the picture that she always carried around with her. She carefully unfolded it, taking it in. Looking at the small baby wrapped up in a blanket - _that's me_. Looking at the beautiful lady, her mom, with her jet black hair and dark but twinkling eyes. Karai slowly traced her finger around Shen's figure. _My mother._

She felt grief overcome her, wrapping her tight. The mother she never knew, the mother she never had a chance to know, was gone, and would never be back.

Tears pricked her eyes, but she refused to let them fall.

Never had she felt so lonely before.

Yes, Karai had a father. She knew he loved her.

But Saki never embraced her, never said that he loved her, never listened to her.

She was only allowed to do what her father permitted, or else she'd be punished. She'd received innumerable scars that way. Scars she hid from everyone else, but she knew were still there.

It was through these scars that Karai had developed a fear of the Shredder.

Yes, he was her father... but weren't fathers supposed to hug you when you needed it? Or at least say that they loved you? Or, at the bare minimum, listen to you when you needed to talk?

She needed to talk. Right _now_.

She needed to talk about her grief, her loneliness, her desire for a true, loving family.

But she had no one to talk to.

And suddenly the tears gushed out, dripping down her cheeks, landing on the soft bed beneath her.

Never had she felt so lonely before.

* * *

After crying for a few minutes, after writing down everything in her diary because she had no one to talk to, after letting it all out, Karai got up and went to the kitchen to fix herself some jasmine tea. It had a sweet smell and a unique flavor that always calmed her down.

As the tea was brewing, she looked at the monitor in the kitchen out of habit. All the rooms in the Foot Headquarters had security monitors to ensure that no trespassers were about.

Two big, red words were flashing across the screen: _SECURITY ALERT._

 _Probably just another rat,_ Karai thought. A lot of rats and mice had been intruding the lair lately, setting off the security alarms.

The kunoichi looked at the details of the security alert. _Trap #43 has been set off._

Karai frowned. That was one of the booby traps near the Shredder's room.

She clicked on the button to view the surveillance cameras near the area, but a message popped up: _Error 108: Camera not detected. Please make sure that the camera is undamaged and connected to the security system, then click 'retry.'_

Karai's frown deepened. This had only happened a couple times before, months ago, due to the turtles...

They weren't back from wherever they'd gone... were they?

There had been no trace of the turtles since they'd fled NYC, but they could be back now...

Karai's eyes widened in worry as she realized what they could be back for: finishing her father, in revenge of Splinter's death.

Without wasting a second, she ran to her father's room, ignoring the fact that he was probably okay. After all, he'd finished off Splinter, and Splinter was a better ninja master than all the turtles combined.

But still, a security alarm had gone off, and she wasn't going to let that go by unnoticed.

She reached the hallway leading to Saki's room. It was dark and slightly creepy, but she knew her way around.

"Father?" she breathlessly called into the darkness.

She was met with silence.

"Forgive me, father," she whispered as she went into his room without permission, something she was _never_ supposed to do. But this was an emergency, and rules could be broken in emergencies, right?

A quick glance told her the room was empty. She looked around for clues, but the only one she received was that the security cameras weren't working on her dad's monitor, either.

Karai backed out of the room, her eyes searching for Saki. _Where could he be?_

She checked every hallway, every corner, all the dead ends. She was met with nothing.

Not willing to give up, but needing a break, she leaned against a wall. She let out a smalls scream as the wall fell back, revealing a hidden room.

"What the...?"

Karai carefully ventured into the room, hands on her swords, waiting for something to come out and attack her. When nothing happened, she continued to search.

Something gleamed in the far right corner caught her eye, and she slowly, stealthily made her way to it.

What she saw stopped her in her tracks.

Her father, the Shredder, was lying in a bloody heap on the ground. He wasn't wearing his armor or gauntlets, revealing his scarred face and body, now bloodied and bruised. Bright, crimson blood was still oozing out from his chest, which had three holes: a puncture from a sai.

"Noooo, father!"

Her hands traveled up to his neck to find a pulse. She held her breath, trying to find one.

She felt nothing.

"NOOOOOO! FATHER!"

She screamed out of agony and grief, tears freely dripping down her face and splattering onto Saki's corpse.

She only stopped when she felt something fall out of her pocket. She grabbed it, then realized it was the picture of her and her mother.

She looked at it through her tears... but it only made her cry harder.

Her father had always been gone from the picture...

...but now he was truly gone.

She had no family.

She was truly alone.


	2. Rebirth

**A/N: I don't own TMNT.**

* * *

Karai was dressed in black. That wasn't surprising; she always was. But what was shocking to her fellow Foot companions and other attendees to the Shredder's funeral was her lack of makeup. Her lips were a pale pink, in contrast to their normally bright red. Her amber eyes, no longer surrounded by thick eyeliner and her trademark glowing flame-shape, blended into the light colors of her face.

What also surprised the other Foot members was her lack of emotion. They'd anticipated that, since she'd lost her last family tie, she'd show at least a hint of grief or sadness, maybe a stray tear now and then. Especially since, no offense to her, she was female.

But there was nothing. He lips were taut in a straight line, her eyes wavering here and there yet focused.

What they didn't know was that the kunoichi was, in fact, still buried deep in grief. She was simply hiding her emotions behind a tough wall hidden in her mind. Once in a while, her emotions overpowered her, threatening to break the wall and show themselves, but she always recovered quickly.

But once the funeral was over and everyone had left, leaving her alone at her father's grave, she let her emotions take control. The tears sprung out of her eyes, dripping down her cheeks in rivers, gushing faster than Niagara Falls.

She remembered the night before, when she'd been wishing her father would hug her, say he loved her, listen to her when she needed it. When she wished her father would act like a "typical" parent: sweet, loving, definitely not scary.

It was hard to believe that was only last night.

Now Karai wished that he was still here, because he was still her father. Deep down she knew that even if he didn't show it, he still loved her. He'd protected her, given her gifts, made her the person she was now.

She'd loved him, even if he wasn't the father she'd wanted him to be, because he was still her father.

Karai sighed in sadness and looked at the tombstone.

 _Oroku Saki, "The Shredder." 1977-2017._

A strong wind whipped her hair, chilling her to the bone, but she didn't care.

The cold didn't hurt as much as the loss of Saki.

"I'm sorry," she whispered to him, her head bent down in shame and sadness. "I'm sorry I couldn't make it on time.

"I could have saved you, but I was so selfish with my own misery I didn't realize it until too late..."

A crack of lightning lit the sky, quickly followed by the loud rumbling of thunder. Rain poured down mercilessly, masking her tears.

She thought apologizing would set things right and make her feel better, but they only reminded her of her mistakes and faults, stabbing her heart with guilt and sorrow.

She fell to her knees, oblivious to the downpour and thunderstorm occurring. Whether it was the rain or her own tears streaming down her cheeks, she didn't know. But that didn't matter.

" _FATHER!_ " she cried out.

But it was useless.

Nothing would bring the Shredder back.

* * *

Wet, cold, and shivering, Karai stumbled into the Foot Headquarters, where she was met with a blast of warm air. The heater had kicked in.

"Miss Karai, you are late for our meeting."

Karai looked up to see Tiger Claw standing before her, still wearing a black suit from the funeral. He seemed sad, probably the aftereffect of the funeral. She was surprised that he hadn't growled at her, like he usually did. Instead, he looked at her with a downcast yet compassionate eye, as if sensing that she was grieved and had been crying.

She'd never seen him look so... _kind_ and _non-intimidating_ before.

Realizing the tiger was waiting for an answer, the kunoichi simply shrugged, as if she was unconcerned, indifferent. Of course, this was far from what she was actually feeling, but she didn't want to show her feelings right now.

"Make it quick. We have to discuss our next steps as the Foot Clan."

Karai nodded, then headed to her room to change into dry clothes.

"Miss Karai?"

Karia turned back to see Tiger Claw still looking at her with compassion.

"I am sorry."

Karai looked down. "It wasn't your fault," she mumbled before walking away.

* * *

Karai entered the meeting room, where all the Foot Clan members were seated at a long, fancy table in matching chairs. On the table, there was tea - a quick sniff in the air told her it was jasmine tea, her favorite - in a white French tea server and dainty cups with floral designs. On a normal occasion, Karai would have gladly accepted some of the beverage, but she didn't feel like having any now. It reminded her too much of what had happened the night before, when she'd made jasmine tea for herself.

"...she is the only true successor of the Shredder," she heard someone say before they all noticed her presence and turned around to face her.

"Ah, Miss Karai, I see you have come to join us," Tiger Claw said. "Come take a seat." He beckoned her over.

Karai pulled up an empty chair.

"We realize that, since you are the Shredder's son, only are fit to continue to lead the clan."

Karai swallowed. "Me?"

It wasn't that she wasn't capable (because she was fully capable), or that she was a girl, or that she was still a teenager, that bothered her. She _had_ lead a group of ninjas before, and she _was_ a great ninja.

It was that she'd never led a whole _clan_ before.

"Of course, you don't have to lead the clan alone. Us Foot ninjas are more than willing to help," Tiger Claw quickly assured her. The other Foot members nodded unanimously in agreement.

"Alright, I'll lead," Karai consented. Maybe being in charge would be fun.

The Foot cheered happily at Karai's decision.

Tiger Claw raised his tea cup, encouraging everyone else to do the same.

"Here's to the Foot Clan!" he cheered, and everyone clinked cups together.

After taking a sip of tea, Tiger Claw handed over the Kuro Kabuto and the Shredder's gauntlets to Karai. "There are yours now."

Karai hesitantly held the gear in her hands. It was her father's, after all.

"Thank you," she whispered, and carefully put on the helmet and the gauntlets. Though they were a bit big, she knew that they could be fitted to her size later.

The kunoichi stood up. Addressing her clan, she said, "We shall seek revenge on the turtles for what they have done to my father! They do not deserve to _live_!"

The Foot ninjas cheered once more.

As she sat down again, Fishface asked uncertainly, "Are you sure the turtles are not preparing for us to attack them?"

Karai snorted. "Ha! No way. They're probably victory dancing still."

* * *

"What do you mean, you're _tired_? We defeated the Shredder! He's _never_ gonna back! We _have_ to keep dancing!" Mikey said to his brothers.

"Mikey, we've been victory dancing all day! Don't you think we should take a break?" Leo asked in exasperation.

"Of course not, bro!" Mikey replied, yanking on Leo's arm, forcing him to dance more.

* * *

 **A/N: If I didn't do an accurate representation of the characters, sorry! I'm not used to writing about the Foot characters. If you have suggestions, please let me know. They are greatly appreciated (as well as any reviews in general!).**

 **I might not update too frequently because of school... I will try, though!**


	3. Attack

**A/N: Changing the title to "They Call It Revenge" because it fits more with the story line. (Previously "True Family")**

 **I don't own TMNT.**

* * *

It had only taken a day for the Foot Clan to prepare for their attack on the turtles due to their advanced technology and highly experienced soldiers and ninjas. So here they were, on the rooftops at 10 pm, scanning the city for four teenage mutant ninja turtles.

Karai looked into the darkness, wearing the Kuro Kabuto and gauntlets she'd received just two night before. Her mind unknowingly drifted to the events of the past couple days. She couldn't help but wonder why on earth the other Foot ninjas, especially Tiger Claw, Rahzar, and Fishface, were actually listening to her.

Afterall, when the Shredder had left for Japan a while ago, neither of them had approved of their master leaving Karai in control. In fact, when the Shredder later demoted her and promoted Tiger Claw, the big cat had been quite pleased that he was able to rule over Karai. Of course, the kunoichi had despised that, but there was nothing that she'd been able to do about it.

So why were they following her commands now?

Unless they were just obeying her for now, and planning to demote her somehow later on...?

That definitely sounded like something they would be up to.

Something in the distance, moving in the shadows, caught Karai's eye, pushing her suspicious away. The figure had a round shell. _The turtles._ They must have been patrolling, but weren't very stealthy, considering that they were ninjas.

Karai quickly nodded her head, a gesture to begin the fighting. The Foot Bots used their smoke bombs to disappear from the rooftops they'd been standing on, then appeared next to the turtles.

Time for sweet revenge.

* * *

The turtles had been on patrol. Leo instructed everyone to cruise at the same pace. But of course, Mikey got bored of following Leo's bland orders and decided that a race would be the perfect way to make the night a bit more interesting. So he'd ran on ahead, yelling, "Bet you can't catch _me_!"

Leo sighed in exasperation as he, Raph, and Donnie tried to catch up to the orange clad turtle. Unfortunately for them, he was much too fast, and kept on humiliating them.

"Catch me if you can, ninjas! Oh wait, you guys are turtles, so you must be as slow as they are! Unlike _me_! I'm the fastest turtle ever!" Mikey mocked, well ahead of his brothers.

Leo and Donnie sighed, clearly annoyed, while Raph gritted his teeth, trying to contain his anger.

Suddenly, Mikey stopped. Leo, Raph, and Donnie finally reached up to him. Raph was ready to give the youngest a piece of his mind when something moving in the shadows stopped him.

"It's the Foot," Leo said as one of the Foot Bots appeared in a cloud of purple smoke. "Why couldn't you have been quieter, Mikey?" the blue clad turtle asked unhappily.

On the other hand, Raph was happy to see the Foot Bos. "YES! Time to kick some Foot butt!" he cheered as he drew out his sais, quickly forgetting that he was mad at Mikey. The other brothers drew out their weapons as well, ready to face the enemy and defeat them once again.

As Donnie fought one of the Foot Bots, using his bo staff to hit the robot's power button to shut it off and destroy it, he noticed that something was different. Normally, the robots repeated the same series of fighting actions over and over again. But this time, it seemed like the robots had more moves to choose from. They must've been upgraded.

Donnie narrated his finding to the leader, who had just sliced off the head of one of the few robots left. "If they're upgraded, then that means the other Foot ninjas are better, too," the genius pointed out.

Leo opened his mouth to reply and make a plan, but was interrupted by the arrival of three mutant ninjas: Rahzar, Fishface, and Tiger Claw.

Behind them was someone wearing the Kuro Kabuto and the Shredders' gauntlets and clunky armor. This someone was shorter and skinnier than the real Shredder, and had more of a feminine look, based on how the armor didn't quite fit them.

"The Shredder...? But he's dead!" Mikey said in confusion.

The mysterious person took off the Kuro Kabuto.

"Karai?!" the four turtles exclaimed in shock, in unison.

"That's right. I'm the leader now," the black haired kunoichi replied.

Leo couldn't help but stare at Karai in wonder. It was shocking enough that she was wearing the Shredder's garments, and that she was the leader now. But what startled the leader in blue the most was the fact that she wasn't wearing any makeup. No bright red lipstick. No thick, black eyeliner. No red fiery tattoos. Karai just had a plain, clean face. And because of it, she looked even more beautiful than before.

So stunned was Leo that he didn't realize that Tiger Claw was approaching him from behind, ready to stab his back, until he heard his brothers cry out, "LEO!"

Quickly, Leo spun around and blocked the attack.

"You gotta watch out, Leo. No more crushin' over Karai," Raph warned the leader.

Leo felt his face go hot in embarrassment, but had no time to reply as Tiger Claw came back for him. He noticed that while Rahzar and Fishface were brawling against his brothers, Karai just stood there, watching everything.

She must've been waiting for the mutants to weaken them all so she could finish them off herself. She did want revenge, after all. She would probably hurt them slowly for a more painful death.

Leo was so immersed in his thoughts that he didn't notice a punch directed at his head. He ducked down, but it was too late. The blow came and struck him hard, knocking him unconscious.

* * *

"Leo...? Can you hear me...?"

The leader slowly opened his eyes. His vision blurred for a few seconds, then slowly came back into focus.

"Raph...?"

Leo, who'd been laying down, quickly sat up and saw that he and his brothers were sprawled up against the edge of the rooftop. Mikey and Don were unconscious. Karai stood in front of the turtles, with Tiger Claw, Rahzar, and Fishface behind her, all smirking triumphantly.

Leo tried to get up, but couldn't. To his disappointment, he saw that they were all chained up.

"Say your last words, turtles, because you're about to become turtle soup!" the kunoichi said with an evil smile.

Leo attempted to unchain himself so he could shield his brothers from the oncoming gauntlet, but the chains were too strong. "No!" he yelled as he saw the gauntlet come closer and closer to Mikey's neck. "NO! Let him go! Kill me instead!"

Karai stopped for a second to turn back and look at Leo. "Sorry, Leonardo. It's too late."

Before she could turn back to Mikey, however, the loud sound of chains snapping stopped her. It was Raph, who'd managed to use his remaining strength to break out of the chains.

"Thought you could get us so easily? Well, think again!" Raph mocked as he rapidly broke his brothers' chains. Then he quickly reached for his belt for a smoke bomb and threw it, allowing the turtles to disappear to safety in some hazy purple smoke.

Karai stood still, stunned. How had the turtles managed to escape? And so quickly, too?

Being a ninja, she quickly recovered. "Go after them!" she yelled to her followers. "Don't let them escape!"

Tiger Claw, Rahzar, and Fishface quickly ran off to find the turtles.

Alone, Karai surveyed the rooftop for any clue. Her eyes caught on a white square. A closer inspection proved it to be a folded piece of paper, slightly crumpled with age. It must have come out of the red clad turtle's belt when he reached for the smoke bomb.

Karai picked up the paper and unfolded it, hoping it would reveal some secret about the turtles. Perhaps it would help the Foot find them and then they could ultimately defeat them.

She was shocked to see that it was a black and white photograph of a happy couple, with a baby in the center.

The same exact picture that she had of herself and her mother, Tang Shen... except the turtle's picture had the father, too.

But the man in the picture wasn't Oroku Saki...

...It was Hamato Yoshi.

* * *

 **A/N: I hope that wasn't too rushed! Tell me what you think! :)**


	4. Escape

**A/N: Pretty deep cliffhanger, huh?**

 **Just so you know, the turtles don't know Karai is actually their sister. They still think she's an enemy...**

 **I don't own** **TMNT.**

* * *

Everything around Karai became muted, unknown, as she looked at Raphael's photograph. There was herself as a baby, her mother Tang Shen, and... Hamato Yoshi.

 _What the heck?_

This completely contradicted everything she'd ever known. After all, her father was Oroku Saki, not Hamato Yoshi!

Karai studied the picture deeply, comparing it to her old one. Hoping for some clue to prove that it was a fake, perhaps edited. The baby had a mole by its right rise of its nose - a birthmark - that Karai still had today. Tang Shen seemed real enough.

But Hamato Yoshi? He seemed as if he was part of the picture originally. As if the real picture was _supposed_ to have him.

But it wasn't.

Saki would have _never_ lied to Karai. He had never done so in his whole entire life. Either he told the truth, or omitted some important facts. But he never lied. There was no way that Yoshi had been her father instead of Saki. Maybe it was because Karai didn't _want_ to believe it. But that didn't matter, because she wasn't going to believe that, no matter what.

So the only reason Yoshi could have made it in the picture was if he'd somehow forced Shen to be in the picture. Both Saki and Yoshi had fallen in love with her, so it seemed reasonable for someone as villainous and wicked as Yoshi to force her mother to be in a picture together, along with baby Karai and a faked smile.

But if Yoshi could do something as evil as that, imagine what else he could've done to Shen...

 _Bastard._ Karai felt her blood boil. How could anyone be so nefarious and monstrous to do such things to a married woman? Although she didn't know if Yoshi had indeed gone any farther than forcing Shen to be in a picture with him, it didn't seem unlike him to do more harm.

At least Saki had killed Yoshi. That freaking bastard deserved to die. The turtles obviously had no idea how evil Yoshi was, otherwise, they would have surely joined the Foot by now. But of course, Yoshi had poisoned their minds to be evil like him, and so they followed his footsteps.

Or maybe they did know how evil Yoshi was, but thought that he was doing good, instead of bad. No wonder they were so determined to "protect" New York City by destroying the Foot Clan.

And killing the Shredder.

 _Freakin' bastards._ Karai felt her anger bubble violently. She still hadn't gotten over her father's death. Maybe he hadn't been the typical American father, but he was still _her_ loving father nonetheless.

 _They are going to die for this._

As if on cue, Tiger Claw, Rahzar, Fishface, and some Foot Bots returned triumphantly. They were dragging four turtles with them.

Karai felt a malicious smirk spread across her face.

 _Time for revenge._

* * *

Revenge, according to the Foot Clan, meant death. The turtles knew that from what had happened to their father months ago.

But revenge could only lead to more revenge, someone thing else the turtles learned from when they'd killed the Shredder back out of vengeance (and also to defeat Dark Leo). Out of revenge for that, Karai, the new Shredder, wanted to kill the turtles. And what could they do to stop that?

When Raph had thrown his smoke bombs, he tried to whisk his brothers away to safety. Unfortunately for them, the Foot had stolen one of their T-Phones and used it to track them down.

With so many injuries, the turtles had struggled to fight again. They couldn't escape using a smoke bomb because there were none left.

So here they were, sprawled across the rooftop, chained up, ready to die.

"See you in Heaven," Mikey rasped out. He had waken up only a few minutes ago. He was covered in bruises and blood, but the most alarming injury he had was his foot twisted at an odd angle. It must have been hurting a lot, but if the orange clad turtle felt any pain, he didn't show it.

"Yeah," Donnie said quietly. "See you in Heaven."

Leo started, "Listen, guys, I'm sorry-"

Raph cut him off. "Don't blame yourself, Leo, it wasn't your fault. I should've ran faster..."

"Aw, how sweet, the turtles are saying good bye and sorry to each other," Karai mocked. "But it's too late now. It's time to end this."

The kunoichi prepared her gauntlet, ready to stab the turtles to relieve a slow and painful death.

She turned to Mikey, the youngest turtle. She knew that if she killed him first, it would hurt the others so much because they were supposed to protect him, but had failed.

"Good bye, Michelangelo. Enjoy your death!" Karai said as she proceeded to stab Mikey in the plastron. Mikey winced and cried out in pain.

"NOOOOOO! Not Mikey!" the other three turtles cried out in emotional pain.

"Please, stop! Take me first," Leo begged. It hurt too much, ripped his heart to shreds, to see his youngest brother die.

"Sorry, Leonardo, but I already made plans," Karai simply ridiculed. She quickly ripped her gauntlet out of Mikey's plastron, causing the turtle to cry out in more pain, then proceeded to stab him again.

She was met with something delicately elegant yet deathly.

A tessen.

"Stay away from my friends," April growled in a voice completely unlike her normally sweet one as she stood protectively over the turtles.

"Yeah! Don't you dare hurt them!" a male voice accompanied.

"April? Casey?" the turtles called in both surprise and relief.

"Don't think you're getting away just because you brought reinforcements," Karai threatened the turtles. To the Foot, she nodded to the two newly arrived humans. "Take care of them. I'll finish the turtles."

No sooner had she said those words when something was thrown in her direction. A thick, green gas spread out around her. Her eyes widened with horror as she realized what it was.

 _Poison_ _gas._

The turtles were worse than she thought. She always thought they had some honor in them, to fight without using something that could weaken the enemy (minus weapons and reinforcements). She had _never_ imagined that they would use something as fatal as poison gas.

Maybe that was how they killed her father...

But Karai didn't have time to think about that right now. She needed to figure out how to reverse the effects of the poison gas (which had reached her even under the Kuro Kabuto) before it could weaken her. Already, she was feeling dizzy and nauseous.

Tiger Claw threw something at her, an herb. "This will help you."

Gratefully, Karai took it and quickly ate it. Immediately, she felt the dizziness and nausea dissipate.

"They have a cure!" she heard Donatello say, and she turned her attention back to the fight.

She saw Leo, Raph, and Casey fighting as Donnie, Mikey, and April tried to escape.

 _They are not going to get away with this!_

Quickly, she grabbed the turtle nearest to her - Mikey, who was too weak to escape quickly - while the other turtles were retreating.

"MIKEY!" they all cried out, but the black haired kunoichi swiftly drew out a smoke bomb of her own, allowing the Foot to disappear with smirks on their faces... with the still bleeding orange clad turtle.

* * *

 **A/N: Sorry, I had to... Actually, I didn't know where I was going with this, but Mikey being captured seemed to fit perfectly.**

 **About the part with Yoshi and Shen... I wasn't going to get into details about that kind of stuff. Think what you want.**

 **I love reviews! *hint hint***


	5. Truth

**A/N: I don't own TMNT.**

* * *

Somewhere on the way to the Foot headquarters, Mikey had fallen unconsciousness. When he woke, he found himself in a bleak, dreary-looking metal cell. There were scratches on the wall behind him, some of them tally marks from another prisoner who must have been counting his or her days in captivity. The cell reeked of blood and waste and vomit.

Mikey tried to get up, but a shooting pain in his plastron and ankle caused him to let out a cry of pain and fall back down again. Even if he was able to get up, he wouldn't have been able to do anything more, because he was chained up with tough steel chains.

Memories of the recent events slowly washed over him.

 _What happened to my bros?_

"Is anyone here?" he called. He winced at the sound of his voice, so raspy and sore.

He was met with silence.

"Raph? Donnie? Leo?" he called out again, this time in panic. He hated being alone. Being alone meant things like darkness and death, the complete opposite of his normally lively and cheerful personality.

"Anyone?"

What wouldn't he give for some company right now.

"Hello, _turtle_ ," Karai spat as she walked towards Mikey's cell. She wasn't wearing her armor or helmet, and she'd actually bothered to put on some thick eyeliner and bright lipstick. Her signature look.

The orange clad turtle glared at the kunoichi. "You won't get anything from me, Karai," he spat back in the most vile tone he could muster.

Karai smirked. "Oh, we'll see about that." She walked closer to the cell, staring intently at Mikey. "Would you like to know what happened to your brothers?"

"My bros are _fine_ , thank you very much," Mikey said, holding his glare.

Karai's smirk only widened. "If that's what you think, then so be it."

Mikey''s glare faltered. "What? What do you mean?"

"Your brothers are captured, just like you. And they're about to die."

Mikey gasped. "W-what? That can't be true!"

"Oh, yes it is," Karai replied, still smirking. "And soon, you will die, too."

Mikey's baby blue eyes shone with glistened tears. "But why?" he whispered. "Why would you do this?"

"Because you _killed my father_. Oh, and because of this." Karai whipped out the picture Raph had dropped just a few hours ago.

"You see this?" she said, showing the photograph to Mikey. " _This_ is my mother," she pointed to Tang Shen. "And your father, that _rat_ , killed her." It was Karai's turn for tears to shine in her eyes, but she quickly wiped them away and continued. "Because of your family, _my_ family is killed. So for that, you and your brothers are going to _die._ "

"What!?" Mikey gasped once more in shock. "That's crazy! That's _my_ mom, Tang Shen! And she was married to _my_ dad, not yours! And anyway, Sensei would _never_ kill! Especially not a _woman_!"

Karai stood in shock, studying the picture for the upteenth time.

 _Hamato Yoshi married Tang Shen?_

That could only mean one thing.

Oroku Saki had lied.

Saki wasn't her father...

...Hamato Yoshi was.

She'd been living a lie for her whole entire life.

She wanted to object, say it wasn't true, but she couldn't.

Because something in her told her that Mikey was telling the truth. Because it made sense. Everything fit into place now.

Maybe that's why, even though she knew Saki did love her to some extent, didn't feel like a _real_ father. Not the kind in books and movies and TV shows. He was a good man, kind of... but not a father.

 _Then how did he get me?_

She hadn't realized that she'd asked that question out loud till Mikey answered softly, "You were left behind in the fire, so the Shredder took you. He wanted to hurt Sensei as much as he could."

It all fit into place now.

Then a thought struck her. _That means the turtles are my brothers._

Somehow, that was even more shocking than the revelation of her true father... because the turtles were her _enemies_.

Maybe not anymore.

"You know what else?" the turtle broke the silence.

"What?" Karai replied, this time without any hatred or evil dripping in her voice.

"Tiger Claw and Fishface and Rahzar are trying to get rid of you. They wanna lead the Foot. I heard them talking about it," Mikey said.

It was true. He'd just remembered. Before Karai had came, the trio wanted a private place to talk. Thinking that Mikey was unconscious still, they discussed their plans to demote Karai. Mikey, however, was on the brink of waking up and had heard the whole conversation.

Karai's eyes widened. _I was right. They really are trying to overthrow me._

"Um, thanks," she said, and offered a small smile to the orange clad turtle, who smiled back. The turtles weren't that bad as she thought. For some reason, she felt as though he trusted her... and she trust him. And now that he'd gained her trust, it seemed, they were allies now.

"Could you let me free now? And my bros? We'll leave you alone, I promise! We didn't realize how much we hurt you!" Mikey pleaded.

"Oh. Sure, I guess. But will you guys help me stop Tiger Claw, Fishface, and Rahzar from trying to demote me?" Karai bargained.

"De-demote? What does that mean?"

Karai rolled her eyes. Mikey was known for not being too smart. "They want to get rid of me so they can lead the Foot, like you said."

"Oh! Oh yeah! Heh heh. Um, can I talk to my brothers about that?"

Maybe Mikey was somewhat smart after all. "I guess," she agreed, a little hesitantly though.

Had he figured out they were siblings, even if not blood related? Would they really be willing to help her so suddenly? Would she have to prove herself first?

She unlocked the cell and led Mikey to his brothers, who were in different cells down the hallway. Doubts kept lingering in her mind.

"Here ya go," she nodded to the turtle, before heading off absentmindedly.

 _Saki lied to me._

 _This whole time, he lied to me._

 _And I never got to meet my real father in a real talk. Just trash talk._

But she couldn't change that now. Both Saki and Yoshi were dead now.

But that turtles weren't.

They were her brothers. Her family.

The thought of that made her smile. She wasn't alone anymore.

"Miss Karai," a voice broke her thoughts. Karai looked up to see Tiger Claw, looking at her expectantly. "Are the turtles dead yet? Can I start making the soup?"

The thought of turtle soup made Karai shudder, now that she realized that the turtles - at least, Mikey - were her allies. "Uh, no, not yet."

Karai started to walk away, to her own room, when the tiger put a paw on her shoulder. "Are you alright from... the past event?"

Saki's death. _Ugh_. That man was a bastard. "Yeah, yeah."

Tiger Claw nodded casually, letting the kunoichi go, who retreated to her room. She didn't trust the mutant.

As she walked away, she felt something prick her neck. She looked down and gasped.

A dart full of a green substance - _mutagen_ \- had just emptied into her body.

"Tiger Claw!?" she gasped in horror as the substance spread into her body. She screamed in pain as the mutagen transformed her cells and DNA into a...

 _mutant._

Tiger Claw laughed evilly. "Welcome to the club!"

That was the last thing she heard before she fell unconscious.

* * *

 **A/N: Karai's mutated now! Heh heh. I know. I'm evil.**

 **Thanks to _DifaniSani_ and _No Guns Only Roses_ for the support! :)**


	6. Return

**A/N: In the last chapter, I forgot Mikey was injured when Karai led him to his bros... let's pretend he has crutches.**

 **By the way, I'm going to reference my fic _The Darkness Within_ (the prequel to this fic) a bit in this chapter... so if you haven't read it yet, you might want to do so. **

**I don't own TMNT.**

* * *

"Mikey?"

Mikey would have known that voice anywhere. Usually, it was angry due to some prank he'd done or some silly nickname he'd said, and sent him off running in the opposite direction. But now it was surprisingly calm and happy.

"Raph!"

The orange clad turtle used his crutches (helpfully provided by Karai) to make his way to the cell where his hothead brother was shackled and detained in. His injuries - his stabbed, now bandaged plastron and broken foot - still hurt, but the pain was manageable thanks to the crutches. Next to Raph's cell was Donnie's, then Leo's. To Mikey's relief, they were all unharmed, and equally looked joyful to see their youngest brother again.

"Mikey..." Leo's eyes were filled with grief and regret. "We never meant it to happen to you. _I_ never meant it to happen to you. You got hurt because of me... _again_..."

The leader was obviously punishing himself for the pain that had been inflicted on Mikey, though it hadn't been his fault. And Mikey made sure to voice that. "Aw, c'mon, bro, we know it wasn't your fault. And anyway, they don't hurt much anymore," he said comfortingly. He shot a smile at him, and though he knew Leo was still thinking himself to be a failure, Mikey saw a hint of relief in those midnight blue eyes.

"Let me take a look," said Donnie, and Mikey walked towards his genius brother, who instructed Mikey to show his wounds. From what Donnie could tell, Mikey's wounds had been cleaned and bandaged quite nicely, considering the Foot had treated them. It was awfully nice of the Foot to treat them so well, as well as provide crutches and a cast for Mikey's broken foot.

The 'doctor' would have liked to examine the wounds closer, but he couldn't, thanks to the cell.

Speaking of the cell... "How did you get out of _your_ cell, Mikey?" Donnie inquired, not being the one to miss a single detail.

"Karai let me out," the orange clad turtle said simply.

Raph's green eyes filled with anger at the mention of the kunoichi. " _KARAI_ let you out?! That person who _hurt_ you?! That _freakin' bi-_ "

Leo shot Raph a warning glare - _Don't swear_ and possibly _Don't insult the girl I'm in love with_ \- but Raph continued anyway. "Of all people, _Karai_ let you out?!"

Donnie, however, realized that there had to be some kind of reason for Karai, the girl who absolutely hated the turtles, to release Mikey. "Do you know why?" he asked his youngest brother.

"Oh, it's 'cause she had a picture of Sensei with Tang Shen and Miwa, 'cept she thought Tang Shen was _her_ mom, and she thought _she_ was the baby in the picture, and then I told her it was actually _our_ mom, and then she got quiet all of a sudden and I told her the story about the fire, and then she was really surprised and then she let me out and she wanted to know if we could help her stop Tiger Claw and Fishface and Rahzar from de- de- ummm I think it's demoting her or something."

Though it was difficult for his brothers to follow along with his run-on sentence, Mikey's brothers understood what he had said.

But it didn't take long for one thing to click in their minds (especially not for Donnie): "Karai is... MIWA?"

"Do you know what this means?" Donnie said, his eyes bulging. "Karai's our... _sister_!"

Instantly, three voices mixed into one.

"Wait, _what_? Does that means my dreams have finally _come true_?! I have a SISTAAAA!"

"What the _shell_ , Donnie?! There's _no freakin' way_ that _goddarn_ _bi-_ is our _sister!_ "

"She's our _SISTER_?! But I- but I thought- Wait, that means- I can't-"

In the end, it was Leo's question that stopped the commotion: "Do you think Master Splinter knew?"

"I... don't think so?" half-answered, half-asked Donnie. The truth was, he had no idea.

"Anyway," Leo broke the silence that had ensued, "we need to figure out how to get out of here. We need to talk to Karai. Then we can sort things out and see if we can trust her, and help her out with the whole demoting thing Mikey was talking about."

Raph snorted. "Says the guy who trusted her anyway. And the guy who's in _love..._ "

The leader felt his cheeks burn in embarrassment. "I'm _not_ in love with her!" _Especially not now, knowing she's my sister._

Donnie, sensing the rising tensions between his two older brothers, quickly interrupted. "Hey, Mikey, did you see where Karai put the keys?"

Mikey thought for a moment. (Correction: Mikey thought for a _few_ moments. ...Okay, fine, he thought for an awfully _looooonggg_ time.) "Umm... I think somewhere upstairs..."

"But you can't walk up stairs," the purple clad turtle pointed out, nodding to Mikey's broken foot.

"I can take the elevator."

"There's an elevator!?"

* * *

When Karai woke, she felt a searing pain rip through a body. She groaned. _Ugh. I feel like I've been hit by a train._

Her memory was cloudy. She couldn't remember why she was sprawled out on the floor, feeling so much pain.

But then she looked down at her body, and all was explained.

All she could do was gasp in shock and horror as she saw scales dotting her thin, snake-like body.

 _How could you, Tiger Claw?!_

She knew that he had been up to something, trying to do something to help him demote her. But not something as horrifying and monstrous as _this_!

 _Why couldn't he have just asked me to promote him or something first?!_

 _Because he wanted to see me suffer?_

 _Well, he's going to pay for this!_

Karai struggled to get up, trying to adjust to her new body. But it only resulted into more pain.

She cried out, collapsing onto the floor again. But instead of a scream or shriek, her cry was a slithering _hisss._

 _WHY THE HECK WOULD YOU EVEN DO THIS TO ME, TIGER CLAW?! WHY WOULD YOU TURN ME INTO A SNAKE-SERPET MUTANT AND RUIN MY LIFE?!_

She knew why, but it was still shocking and made her angry nonetheless.

 _"Ahh, hello, daughter."_

Karai's eyes widened in shock. _The Shredder? My fat- my fake father?_

 _"Oh yes, that's me. I'm here to so you can help me."_

 _W-what? How can you hear me? How are you speaking to me? You're dead! And I'm not going to help YOU!_

 _"I still have a spiritual connection with you. We did spend sixteen years of your life together, my daughter. And I have ways to make you help me."_

 _I'm not your daughter! You LIED to me!_

The Shredder, in her head, laughed menacingly. _"Yes, I lied to you."_

 _But WHY?!_

 _"It was all for the best, my daughter. The turtles may have defeated me, but through controlling you, I can defeat them."_

 _No, you won't! You can't control me!_

 _"Oh, I can't?"_ the Shredder taunted.

Karai felt an overwhelming, dark power consume her. She tried to stop it, but the shock of being mutated, as well as the shock of hearing her father again, weakened her, and she gave in to the power.

 _"You are my slave. You will obey to everything I tell you to do."_

Her eyes turned green. Her pupils turned into black slits. She hissed, exposing her long tongue and sharp fangs.

She was the Shredder's slave.


	7. Accuse

**A/N: Heyy guys! Yes, I'm still alive, just awfully busy! I'm not sure how long the next update will take, but hopefully, this one is enough for now.**

 **I don't own TMNT.**

* * *

Mikey had no idea which button to choose on the elevator. There were a _lot_ of buttons, ranging from floor LL - lower level, also known as the dungeon/prison level - to floor 99. He closed his eyes and tried to think. _Where would Karai have put the keys?_

In all honesty, he had absolutely _no_ idea. And being the, well, not smartest turtle out of the four did not help.

 _HISSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS._

Mikey's eyes snapped open. Was it just his imagination, or did he hear some kind of snake slithering nearby? Quickly, he glanced around to make sure there was no danger.

 _HISSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS._

Seemingly out of nowhere, a purple and silver serpent jumped on Mikey from behind. A blood curling scream escaped the turtle's mouth, but there was nothing he could do as the serpent squeezed him tight. His air supply was cut off, yet he still tried to breathe, but in vain. His vision became no more than black dots.

Then nothing.

 _HISSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS._

* * *

"Why's he taking so long?"

Raph's question sliced through the thickening silence between the three impatient turtles. They'd been waiting for at least an hour now, as estimated, wondering when their youngest brother would come with the keys to unlock the cells they were detained in. Sure, Mikey wasn't exactly your smartest guy, but it shouldn't have taken him _this_ long...

Not waiting for an answer, Raph glared. "I bet our ' _sister'_ did somethin' to him."

At the accusation, Donnie remained silent, but Leo sighed. "Oh, come on, Raph. Karai trusted Mikey enough to let him go. Can't you at least give her a chance?"

Raph turned his glare to his older brother. "You think I'll give _her_ a chance after everything she did to us?"

Leo opened his mouth to reply, but a loud scream interrupted.

The brothers' eyes widened in fear as they realized who it was: " _MIKEY_!"

Almost as soon as the scream erupted, a loud _HISSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS_ followed.

"Sounds like a snake," Donnie commented. He couldn't help but wonder if Mikey had been bitten by the snake. What if it was poisonous? The inland taipian, or oxyuranus microlepidotus, was known to be extremely poisonous and dangerous. It wouldn't be surprising if the Foot had somehow acquired that snake...

"Donnie!"

Leo's voice snapped Donnie out of his thoughts. The purple clad turtle turned to the leader.

"We need to figure out a way to get out and make sure Mikey is okay!"

Donnie nodded absently as the gears in his head started whirring. The lock was directly in front of him, shaped like a normal key hole, except for some jagged spikes at the end, each about 47.65 degrees apart from each other, each perhaps 13.21 centimeters, or 5.2 inches long -

 _HISSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS._

Donnie looked up to see a long, scaly, purple and silver serpent drop Mikey off in front of his cell. The orange clad turtle gasped, gulping in as much air as he possibly could.

"MIKEY!"

All three turtles rushed towards the front of their cages, getting as close to Mikey as they could. His body looked like it had been squeezed to pulp.

"Bros," the orange clad turtle muttered weakly.

Raph snarled, growling at the snake. " _What did you to him_?!"

But the mysterious mutant only hissed in reply.

"Guys," Mikey said as he slowly sat up, wincing in pain as he moved his injured foot. "I- I'm sorry I couldn't get the keys," he apologized, remorse filling his baby blue eyes.

Their little brother was obviously in so much pain, from being choked, from being stabbed, from a broken foot, yet all he could think about was his brothers' freedom.

"Mikey..." Leo looked at him with sad eyes. "There's no need to be sorry. It wasn't your fault." For Leo, the guilt of being a failure at protecting his brothers was adding and adding up.

"You will NOT get away with this!" Raph practically screamed at the snake mutant, his eyes filled with burning rage and fury. "NO ONE hits Mikey but _me_!"

 _HISSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS._

Raph was punching the bars of his cell, attempting to break them so he could get out and punch the life out of that snake. But it suddenly drooped to the floor, writhing and jerking side to side, hissing all the while. Mikey's eyes filled with fear and he backed away, thinking that the mutant was trying to hurt him again.

Instead, the mutant stopped moving.

Mikey, surprised, stopped backing up. Donnie was observing this peculiar behavior, comparing it to the most dangerous snake types. Leo and Raph remained alert, expecting the snake to suddenly lunge out at them.

But it remained still.

Mikey cautiously advanced closer to the snake, wondering what was wrong with it, when suddenly... it _changed._

All the turtles were speechless as the long, scaly snake morphed into... a _human._ Not just any human, but a teenage girl with dark, black hair and chocolatey brown eyes.

" _KARAI_?!"

The said human, still sprawled on the ground, lifted her head, eyes filled with regret. "Turtles... I- "

Raph rushed forward. Karai was lucky he was detained; otherwise, he would be pounding the life out of her right now.

" _TRAITOR_!" he bellowed. "YOU PRETENDED TO BE OUR SISTER JUST SO YOU COULD HURT MIKEY!"

Karai's eyes only filled with tears. "No," she whispered softly, looking at the red clad turtle in the eye. "No, I didn't mean to. Please, let me explain!"

"You want to explain why you hurt my BROTHER?" Raph was outraged, shaking with unending wrath. "You have a REASON why you HURT him?!"

"Please," the kunoichi begged, now on her knees. "It wasn't me, it was-"

"IT _WASN'T_ YOU?" Raph yelled. "We have freakin' EVIDENCE right here to prove it was you, yet you say it WASN'T?"

Karai looked as if she was going to break down.

Le interjected Raph's bellowing."Raph, let her explain," he said in sympathy for the human.

Raph glared at Leo, ready to yell something at him, but was interrupted by Karai.

"It wasn't me... It was the Shredder."

* * *

 **A/N: I know that chapter wasn't long enough/good enough as my other ones... sorry! :( I just have a lot going on right now. I'll try to do better on the next one.**


	8. Control

**A/N: To make up for the last short chapter, I wrote a longer one with plenty of action! :D**

 **I don't own TMNT.**

* * *

"The _Shredder_?" all four turtles repeated in disbelief.

"But he's dead!" Raph said. Also, he sure did _not_ trust Karai after what had happened.

Donnie, who had been deep in thought, spoke up. "Maybe, somewhere in the afterlife, he's still able to reach us through some kind of portal or something. It might be like the way I receive messages from Master Splinter sometimes, especially in my dreams. Maybe, the Shredder is controlling Karai, the same ways he controlled you, Leo..."

At the mention of his name, Leo's head snapped up. "You mean... the Shredder is controlling _her_ dark side, that same way he did with mine?"

Donnie nodded.

"But," Leo couldn't help but interfere, "we killed him. And he stopped bothering me after that."

Karai, who had been lost, put the pieces together. "Wait, my fath- er, the Shredder - had been _controlling_ you? _That's_ why you killed him?"

The turtles nodded in response.

"Well, he's controlling me now. Trying to get me to kill you guys in revenge for killing him, and making me find the truth. Also somehow influenced the Foot to mutate me, to demote me. So how are we going to stop him _now_?" Karai asked desperately. It seemed like there was no solution. "I really don't want to hurt you, after showing me who I _really_ am..."

"Don't worry, Karai," Leo reassured the kunoichi. "We'll figure something out. For now, could you possibly let us out?"

"Oh." Karai felt her cheeks flush with embarrassment. She'd forgotten that the turtles, minus Mikey, were still locked up. "I'll get the keys. And Mikey, I'll get something to lessen the pain."

Karai mutated into her snake form and quickly slithered upstairs, grabbed the keys and medicine for Mikey, returned to the turtles, and morphed back into her human form, all under a minute.

"Woah!" breathed Mikey. "That is _epic_! I wish I could do that!"

Karai smiled. "I guess being a mutant has its perks."

Raph rolled his eyes, but muttered a quiet, grumbled "Thanks" to Karai as she let him out his cell. Though he understood that it was the Shredder's fault that she'd hurt Mikey, he still didn't find her worthy enough of his trust.

Leo and Donnie were freed next. The genius turtle couldn't help but wonder, "It's strange how you can change between your human and mutant form, Karai. I don't think you were given pure mutagen; otherwise, you wouldn't be able to do that. Maybe the mutagen you received contained some retromutagen in it."

"Yeah, Stockman probably did something to it," Karai agreed. It _was_ quite strange, and though it was kind of cool to be a mutant, she appreciated her human form as well. Perhaps because she was used to it more.

"So," the teenage girl said. "What now?"

Leo answered immediately, as if he'd been thinking about the same thing at the same time. "We go after the Foot. Especially Tiger Claw and Fishface and Rahzar, since they're our biggest threats."

"Are we going to... kill them?" Mikey asked quietly.

Leo sighed. "I don't know, Mikey. Whatever it takes to protect Karai." Though the Leo wouldn't admit it out loud, especially not to Raph, he still loved the kunoichi. He knew he shouldn't; she was his sister, after all. But love was something hard to stop once it had started.

* * *

Most of the Foot members, including the larger mutants: Tiger Claw, Fishface, and Rahzar, were seated at the long, fancy table in the Foot Headquarters' meeting room. They were discussing their next plans.

"Now that the wretched daughter of the Shredder has been mutated, like _us_ , we can do whatever we wish!" Tiger Claw exclaimed, smiling evilly.

The mutant fish smirked joyously. "YES! That stupid girl never did anything right anyway."

"We should kill her. Then she can never interfere with out plans," said Rahzar.

"Yes, we could," Tiger Claw said. "But remember, the Shredder told us that he would be controlling her. That way, she will do whatever we want her to do!"

Rahzar frowned. "But she would be under the Shredder's control, not _ours_. We should kill her in case he makes her do something we don't want her to do."

Tiger Claw dangled a long, squirmy worm in front of Rahzar's face. "Do you not remember these mind control worms?"

"Ahh, I see where you are going." A big grin spread out across Rahzar's face.

Tiger Claw put the mind control device away and roared with evil laughter. "Soon, the world shall be MINE! Er, OURS!" he quickly fixed, glancing at the other Foot members seated at the table to make sure they hadn't noticed.

Fishface and Rahzar had, and frowned, but quickly hid them before Tiger Claw had seen them.

"CHEERS!" Tiger Claw said, and the Foot members clanked their cups together.

* * *

"They're in here," Karai whispered, nodding to the large, locked door in front of her and the turtles. The sign _MEETING ROOM_ was hung in front of the door with bold, black letters and a bloody red background, followed by the familiar Foot symbol.

"Everyone know the plan?" Leo whispered. The turtles nodded, even Mikey, who had thankfully been paying attention when Leo had been describing it.

"Okay. One... two... three..."

Karai unlocked the door - she had the keys to every room in the Foot Headquarters, being the new Foot Clan 'leader' - and the ninjas jumped in. "BOOYAKASHA!" screamed Mikey.

Karai shook her head. "I still don't get how you made that up."

"Back to the plan!" Leo called to her, bringing her back to focus.

All the Foot Clan members seemed shocked to see the gang for a second, then quickly reacted. Tiger Claw lashed out at Karai in surprise. "I mutated you!"

Karai thew a punch, then shrugged indifferently. "Guess it didn't work, huh?"

The tiger growled, then took out his weapons and faced the kunoichi.

"Hey, fishy!" Mikey called out to Fishface. "You'd make a good pizza topping for me and my bros' pizza tonight!"

Fishface snarled, clearly offended. "I'm no fish, you- you- oh, forget it!"

Mikey laughed, twirling his nunchucks. The pain meds Karai had given him were enough to keep his pain from his injuries at bay for a few hours, allowing him to participate in the fight.

Raph, who'd been fighting Rahzar, turned around. "Start fighting already, Mikey!"

"Raph, look out!" called Leo. He used his katana to block a tanto blade from stabbing his hotheaded brother. "Careful," he warned, before turning back to help Karai face Tiger Claw.

Raph huffed, but quickly blocked another punch from Rahzar with his sais.

Donnie spun his bo staff as he faced Stockman, hoping his stick wouldn't break again like it had 327 times before. He calculated his move: run 132 yards to the left, then run back, spinning his bo staff at no less than 100 revolutions per minute, then jump up at Stockman and bash that stick down at him with a speed of 75 miles per hour -

"KARAI!"

Leo's cry startled everyone out of their fighting and they turned to the leader in blue.

"What's wrong, Fearless?" asked Raph, clearly annoyed to have been forced to stop fighting.

Leo was looking alarmed, and one thing explained everything: Karai had mutated into a long, purple, scaly serpent: her mutant form.

"Why would she do that _now_?" Donnie asked. His eyes widened in alarm as he realized something. "Unless the Shredder took control over her..."

As if answering his question, Karai raised her head and hissed at the purple clad turtle.

Suddenly, she lunged forward and jumped on Donnie, causing him to fall backwards and hit his head on the floor with a sickening crack. "Oww," he moaned. "Get off of me!"

"DONNIE!"

"LEAVE HIM ALONE!" Raph roared. He rushed to his immediate younger brother, prying the serpent off of him.

Karai hissed and glared at Raph, as if preparing to attack him next.

"Karai, please," begged Leo. "Don't hurt us! We're your allies!"

"Yeah! We're your _bros_ , remember?" Mikey said.

Karai turned to Mikey and started to hiss, but then she stopped.

* * *

Karai fought off the Shredder's dark form, finally being able to control her own actions. She gasped as she looked at the turtles. Donnie looked slightly hurt, but mostly okay. Raph glared at her, but Leo and Mikey were looking at her with fear but some hope in their eyes.

 _"See? I made you hurt your 'brothers.' I told you, I can control you! Now you will do whatever I wish you to do, daughter!"_

 _No! NEVER!_

The Shredder cackled with laughter in Karai's mind. _"Then what am I doing with you right now?"_

 _No! I won't let you hurt them!_ Karai yelled at the Shredder. She could feel his dark presence trying to take over hers again, but she wouldn't let it. _I will NEVER let you hurt my FAMILY!_

She could hear the Shredder laughing, laughing and laughing. But the harder she fought, the more it faded away. She knew he was gone, because she was able to morph back to her human form and walk over to the turtles, saying, "I'm sorry."

Her head was throbbing. Her whole body hurt.

Before she could stop herself, she felt herself slipping away from consciousness, due to fatigue.

The last thing she heard before she was gone was the Shredder saying faintly at the back of her mind, _"I shall get what I want, my daughter,"_


	9. Awake

**A/N: Wow, I can't believe it's the 9th chapter already! :D**

 **There's some Leorai in this chapter (and there was some in the previous chapters). Not sure how far I'll go with it.**

 **For some reason, when I put in the 8th chapter, the fanfic didn't say I updated... idk why. *shrugs***

 **Anyway, here we go!**

 **I don't own TMNT.**

* * *

Karai stirred awake a few hours later. She was lying on a soft couch that had a TV across it. There was also a ping pong machine, as well as some other video games, around the room.

She almost bolted up, wondering where she was, when she realized that this must be the turtles' lair. She slowly exhaled the deep breath she didn't know she'd taken. _I'm okay. I'm safe._

Far away, perhaps in the dojo, Karai could make out voices, thanks to her ninja skills. They weren't happy voices, unfortunately.

"Why the heck do you think you can trust her _now_? She almost killed Mikey, and now Donnie, and yet you still _trust_ her?!"

That was undoubtedly Raph, being the hothead he usually was.

"Raph, you still trusted me when the Shredder did that to me. I almost killed you guys, but you were still there for me. Can't you do that to _her_ , too?"

Leo.

Raph replied with a flat "No."

Karai heard Leo sigh, then mutter, "Fine. I'm going to go check on her."

Karai quickly shut her eyes and made herself appear as if she was still out as she heard gentle, soft footsteps approach her. It wasn't that she didn't trust him... it was that she wanted to know more by secretly spying on them. What did they think of her? Did they - minus Raph - _actually_ trust her? Or, deep down inside their hearts, was she still the daughter of their enemy?

She felt Leo's warm breath on her face, stopping her thoughts. Her heart beat quickened. _Why is he so close to me?_

As if he'd read her mind, Leo's fingers touched her neck, ever so gently, checking her pulse.

 _I'm alive,_ she thought. _Don't_ worry.

Karai thought Leo would go after that, because he was done checking on her, right? But she could still feel his presence.

"It's weird, isn't it?" he said quietly. Then he sighed. " _I'm_ weird.

"In the beginning, it was because I'm a mutant, and you're a human. But now it's because... you're my sister."

If Karai had her eyes open, they would be wider than dinner plates right now. _Are you going to confess your feelings for me? Because I know about them. You were just too obvious._ Karai almost smiled, thinking about how funny it was when Leo would become embarrassed around her. Of course, _that_ was months ago.

"I didn't know it at that time, obviously," Leo continued. "But now I do. And I tried to stop...

"I really tried to stop the feeling. But I couldn't. There you were, your black, raven hair. Your amber brown eyes. Your cocky, rebellious, _fearless_ attitude." Leo chuckled a little. "You know, the nickname Fearless fits you a lot more than it does me."

Karai almost gasped at that. _What?! No way! Raph doesn't even trust me; there's no way he'd call me_ that! _And_ of course _it suits you!_

A small sigh escaped Leo's lips. "I know I really shouldn't, Karai... but I... I..."

 _He's going to say it!_

She heard Leo swallow before he finally whispered, "...I love you."

She felt his soft hands slowly reach to her. Brushing her hair off her face and tucking it around her ear.

She couldn't help but open her eyes, curve her lips upwards, at the kind, tender gesture. But he didn't see her; his face was turned away by then.

"Karai," he murmured, so soft she could barely hear him. "I know you might not love me, but-"

"It's okay." Karai sat up and looked at the blue clad turtle and he turned to look back at her, her brown eyes meeting his midnight blue eyes. Somehow, he didn't seem surprised to see her awake. Almost as if he already knew.

Karai shook the thoughts away, and turned to what was important. "Leo, I-"

"WHAT THE SHELL, LEO? YOU STILL LOVE HER?! _THAT'S_ WHY YOU TRUST HER?!"

Raph's shout seemed to echo off the walls. It was clear that he wasn't just angry; he was _furious_.

Leo quickly pulled away from Karai, a crimson red blush already starting to creep onto his face. "What? No, Raph-"

The red clad turtle crossed his arms, glaring at his older brother. "Don't 'Raph' me! I heard you talking to her!"

"You- you heard?" Leo sputtered in disbelief.

"Of course!" Raph scoffed. "I'm a _ninja_! Unlike _you_ , who didn't even notice me!"

"Guys!" Karai surprised both turtles, who seemed to have forgotten about her. "Let's not fight right now! We have bigger fish to fry!"

"Like Fishface?" a voice offered.

Leo, Raph, and Karai spun around, shocked to see that Mikey and Donnie had also been eavesdropping. Mikey grinned, clearly pleased at his joke, while Donnie just rolled his eyes.

"C'mon, dudes! We have to go back and _fry that fish_!" Mikey nearly doubled over in laughter.

Leo sighed. "Mikey, we aren't frying anyone tonight. We have to let Karai recover."

"I'm fine!" Karai insisted. At the same time, Mikey whined, "Awww!"

"Let's discuss this later, guys. I need to talk to Karai."

The words seemed to fly out of Leo's mouth before he realized what he said.

Raph continued to glare. "No way, lover boy."

"Aww! How cute!" Mikey's grin widened. "Leo and Karai, sitting in a tree-"

Only Donnie remained silent, knowing all too well how Leo felt at this moment.

Leo glared daggers at Raph and Mikey. "Go. NOW."

All three turtles left, leaving Leo and Karai alone.

"Karai, are you okay with your mutant form? Because if you don't like it, Donnie can make a special retromutagen. He'd just need some of your DNA-"

Karai cut him off. "It's okay, Leo. I like it. It's pretty cool being a mutant, actually."

Leo beamed at that. Then he said more seriously, "Karai, we have to help you stop the Shredder from controlling you."

The kunoichi looked down. "I can try... but it's so hard."

Leo said quietly and gently, "We'll help you. I did it too, you know. We can do it together."

Karai nodded. She could tell Leo trusted her with his heart.

 _And I, the same._

Leo led her down a hallway, pointing out the bathroom, then leading her into a guest room. "It's yours now. You might want to sleep soon. It's almost ten."

Karai smiled in gratefulness. "Thanks, Leo."

The leader should have walked out of the room, but instead, he stayed. "Karai I- I don't mean to rush you, or make you uncomfortable, but you know what I said earlier... I just wanted to know, do you-"

"Shh," she said. "Not now. It's been a long day."

Leo looked dejected, but quickly covered it up, his cheeks turning bright red. "Oh. Yeah. Sorry. Uh, good night."

"'Night."

Leo quietly shut the door behind him.

Karai sighed. She wasn't ready to talk to him about... _that_... just yet. It was true; it had been a long day, and though she'd been unconscious earlier, she was still tired. But the main reason was, she wasn't ready to tell him yet. Maybe after the Foot and the Shredder were taken care of. But not now.

Karai broke away from her thoughts and looked around the room. There was a small, wooden desk with a matching chair; a trunk, for clothing, she assumed; and a bed. Karai lay down on the bed, pleased by its plushness and coziness. Before she knew it, she'd fallen asleep.

* * *

 **A/N: Soo... how was my first try at romance?**

 **To be honest, though, I think I just turned this fanfic into a complicated love story. Lol.**


	10. Training

**A/N: I don't own TMNT.**

* * *

 _It was a sunny, beautiful day._

 _There were no clouds in the bright blue sky. Birds flew about, creating distinct patterns as they soared in their flocks._

 _She was standing in a green field with thick, tall grass and lovely blooming flowers and tall cherry blossom trees. Sweeping high mountains dotted with ice in the distance completed the scene._

 _It was beautiful. The sun basked her face, made her glow, in a subtle, soft kind of warmth. A light wind accompanied it, blowing her hair in the air. It felt wonderful, calming. She didn't want to leave this tranquility._

 _She was happy._

 _"Would you like to stay here, Karai?"_

 _Suddenly, the trees and mountains shrank into nothingness. The colorful flowers withered away, dead and useless. The bright sun dimmed as it hid behind emerging clouds. Everything turned dark, and Karai found herself on nothing but a bland, gray piece of land, stripped of everything that had made it once pleasant._

 _Karai turned around, glaring at her so-called 'father.' "No. I'd_ never _stay with you."_

 _Oroku Saki, surprisingly enough, wasn't wearing his signature armour or threatening Kuro Kabuto or fatally sharp, gleaming gauntlets. Instead, he was dressed in a dark suit, almost as if he was about to attend a funeral. "Why not?" he asked innocently._

 _But Karai knew better. Saki was always up to something, always planning and plotting._

 _Karai stood still, clenched her hands into fists, and deepened her glare. "What do you mean, 'why not?' Why the heck would I want to stay with_ you after _you lied to me and killed my father?"_

 _Raindrops fell from the darkening clouds, lightly landing on her. Lightning ripped, seared through the sky, followed by roaring thunder._

 _Saki took several steps closer to her, till he could reach and gently stroked her hair. "I only wanted the best for you, my daughter."_

 _Karai fiercely shook his hand off, walking backwards, away from him. "No. It wasn't the best. It was the_ worst _!"_

 _Sadness filled Saki's eyes for a second, but was quickly replaced with venomous anger. "You dare to say no to your father?" he growled._

 _Karai didn't even flinch. "Yes."  
_

 _Saki was engulfed in a dark, smoky wind, encompassing him like a tornado. When it left, he was standing taller than before, like a giant; dressed in his armour, Kuro Kubato, and shining gauntlets._

 _Karai expected him to come forward, to punish her, beat her._

 _But he didn't._

 _Instead, the Shredder simply laughed. "One day, my daughter, you will see the true intentions behind my words, my actions. One day, you will be thankful for what I've done. One day, you'll see it was all for the best. And that one day, my daughter, you will follow my footsteps. You will be the first female Shredder!"_

 _Karai only said one word: "No."_

 _"Then you will suffer the consequences," the Shredder responded, "starting..._ now. _"_

* * *

 _Knock! Knock!_

Out of instinct, Karai bolted up, awake, her blanket and sheets tangled around herself. One look around the room and she was reminded that she was in the turtles' lair, in her new room. _Safe_.

"Ka- _raiiiii_ , are you awake? 'Cause I made this de- _lish_ breakfast! Just for you!" Mikey called. "Wake up, wake up!"

"I'm awake, Mikey!" Karai replied from behind the door. "Just let me get ready. I'll be there soon."

"Okay! Make sure to hurry before the food gets cold!"

Karai hurried to prepare herself before heading down to the kitchen. A lovely aroma of pancakes filled the air. Seated at the dining table were Leo, Raph, and Donnie, while Mikey served the food.

"Got a good night's sleep?" Leo asked as she sat down in the chair next to him.

"Yeah, thanks," Karai forced a smile. Now wasn't the best time to tell him her dream.

Mikey passed out the pancakes, bathed in a melting, gooey mess of butter and syrup; and golden, fluffy scrambled eggs. "You guys will love this _egg_ -cellent breakfast!" Mikey laughed at his own joke.

Donnie sighed; he could come up with much better puns. Raph rolled his eyes. Leo offered his youngest brother a small smile to make him feel better, but he wasn't feeling dejected, anyway, because Karai had chuckled a little. Even a little laugh at one of Mikey's jokes meant something to the orange clad turtle.

Karai took a bite of pancake and couldn't help but smile as she chewed the soft, sweet treat. "Mmmmm! The pancakes at the Foot HQ were _never_ this good!"

Mikey beamed at the compliment, while Leo smiled. "Yeah, Mikey's the cook around here. And he's pretty good at it."

"Do _you_ cook, Leo?" Karai asked with another mouthful of pancake.

At that, Raph burst out laughing. " _Cook_? Can Leo _cook_? More like can Leo _burn,_ 'cause he sure can!"

Leo's face reddened. Karai just smiled and shook her head. _Man, do I love my brothers!_

* * *

After breakfast was training, which had gone by smoothly. They had done some katas and sparring. Karai had successfully overtaken Mikey and Donnie, but was almost evenly matched with Leo and Raph. They _were_ strong, after all.

After training, Raph, Donnie, and Mikey left the dojo. But Leo had asked her to stay with him, to practice blocking out the Shredder.

"What I would do was think about my brothers, because I didn't want to hurt them," Leo said. "But I guess it was _them_ who helped me out more. They'd yell at me, and then I'd find the power to regain my control."

Karai nodded. "Yeah, I guess that would work... but the Shredder, he's so strong! I can try, but he seems to always get to me. It's only before I can do some real damage when I stop him." Then she narrated her dream, figuring this was the right time.

Leo listened to her intently, thinking. "Hmm... he's trying to get to you, Karai. I think he's gaining more power. You better be careful." The blue clad turtle then came up with an idea. "Hey, how about you try sparring in your mutant form?"

"Okay," Karai agreed. Maybe it would help her out sometime. She closed her eyes, and willed herself to transform into the long, scaly serpent. Leo watched in amazement.

Karai hissed, and lunged at Leo with incredible speed. Leo jumped out of the way, just in time, only to be greeted with a sudden _whish_ of Karai's tail. Leo barely ducked. While he was regaining his balance, Karai effortlessly wrapped herself around him, squeezing him.

 _"Kill him. Kill him, my daughter!"_

Karai hissed at the voice, and leaned closer to Leo's face. "Woah, Karai, I think that's enough!" he said, but Karai only hugged him tighter.

"I... can't... breathe!" Leo rasped.

The voice in her head was getting louder now. _"Kill him! Avenge my death! Show no mercy!"_

"AHHHHHHH!" she cried out, letting Leo go, falling to the floor. She unknowingly morphed back into her human form, clutching her head.

 _"KILL HIM WHILE YOU HAVE THE CHANCE!"_ the Shredder yelled at her.

"No! Stop! I won't!" Karai yelled back.

"What are you talking about, Karai? Karai?" Leo kneeled down and looked over her, concerned. "Do you hear him?"

The voice softened, and Karai slowly dropped her hands to her sids and sat up. "Yeah, I did. But he's gone now."

Leo could sense that something was amiss. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Karai dismissed nonchalantly, walking towards the door.

But the leader caught up to her. He wouldn't let her leave so easily. "What did he say?"

Karai sighed. "He wanted me to kill you."

Leo's eyes widened. This what the Shredder wanted _him_ to do, too: kill his brothers.

"We'll figure this out, okay? We'll stop him. Don't worry," he tried to console her.

"Yeah, yeah." She walked away, not looking back.

She couldn't help but wonder, _how will_ _I ever stop him?_

Because she was losing faith too quickly. She'd already almost killed Mikey, almost harmed Donnie, and now Leo.

As if answering her question, the Shredder replied in her mind, _"I told you, my daughter: I shall get what I want, sooner or later."_

* * *

 **A/N: Ehh. I'm not very proud of this chapter. It seems like a filler, but it isn't...**

 **I'll try to make the next one have more action.**


	11. Jealousy

**A/N: I don't own TMNT.**

* * *

 _"I shall get what I_ _want, my daughter."_

Karai scowled at the dreaded and quite annoying voice. Though she hadn't been hearing him much as of late, she was still always on guard.

Speaking of which... it kind of sucked always being on guard.

For the past week, at least twice a day, she'd had practice sessions with Leo to block out the Shredder and prevent him from taking over her. In the beginning, they were tiring, and didn't always end on a high note. But lately, she'd been able to control herself much easier and with a lot less effort. She barely heard the Shredder anymore, and he barely tried to control her.

It was nice to have some peace.

But she always had to be on guard, just in case for times when he still managed to break through. Like now.

Karai sighed. How much longer would this last? How could she get rid of the Shredder _forever_? Sure, she was able to block him out, but she didn't know how long she could. It was very well possible the he was just faking it, letting her 'block' him so he could strike later on, so it would be best to get rid of him, _end_ him. But that would be extremely difficult, considering that he was killed by Leo just a few weeks ago.

 _A few weeks ago._ Wow, it had felt like she'd left the Foot Clan and joined her new, or rather, _real_ family years ago. But no, it had been a mere few weeks. That was how connected she felt to the turtles and Splinter.

 _Splinter._ If only he were alive. From what the turtles said, particularly Leonardo, their rat sensei was wise and always calm. He had the answers to everything. If he were still here, he would know what to do, Karai was sure of it.

But he wasn't here, and Karai had no idea what to do.

The turtles, er, _Leo_ , had a plan to infiltrate the Foot Headquarters soon. They had been training vigorously to prepare themselves for any kind of attack possible. Karai, with the assistance of her brothers, had learned to fight as hard and strong as them, as well as transform into her serpent form by will, not the Shredder's command. It was "super cool and awesome," as Mikey said, to have two forms. It was incredibly helpful. The best ability Karai had in her mutated form was to shed her skin, which resulted in the removal of injuries in her human form.

Virtually, Karai was invincible.

 _Knock! Knock!_

"Come in," Karai said, sitting up on her bed. She'd almost forgotten that she'd been resting in her room.

"You alright?" The gentleness in Leo's voice always washed over, like a gentle, breezy wind. She always felt warm and safe and content in his presence.

With a smile, she responded, "Yeah, I'm fine." She observed Leo. The way he stood. The way he smiled. The way he looked at her, midnight blue eyes filled with tenderness and...

"Okay, that's good. It's time for training."

Leo's voice had broken Karai's thoughts, but she still felt like she was drifting, cruising in Heaven.

"I'm ready," she said absentmindedly, her head up in the clouds.

"Let's go." Leo nodded towards the door. Karai followed him to dojo, her mind snapping back to reality.

 _What are you doing? You really think that you can love your own_ brother _?_

But Leo wasn't her brother... at least, not by blood... so it was okay, right?

 _Watch out,_ Karai's conscience warned her.

But it was okay. Leo was gentle and made her feel safe. He would never harm her, she knew _that_ for sure.

* * *

"Training's over," Leo announced an hour later.

Donnie and Mikey headed to the door, but Leo stopped them. "Wait! I didn't say that you were _dismissed._ We still have things to talk about."

"Like what? Are we going on patrol? Ooh, then can we get pizza? Please, please, _please_?" Mikey asked, making his signature puppy eyes.

"No, Mikey, were aren't going on patrol. We need to discuss our plan for defeating the Foot, so we can stop the Shredder from messing with Karai," Leo explained.

"So what exactly are we gonna do, Fearless? Storm in there and bash their heads?" Raph asked, casually spinning his sai.

Leo sighed. "No, Raph. We're going to quietly sneak in. We can make a hole on the side of the building using those laser knives Donnie made. We'll climb through the hole. Then we'll make sure all the security cameras are turned off. If we run into any enemies, we can use the new poison gas Donnie made. Speaking of which, we should all wear our poison masks, just in case. Then..."

* * *

"...You guys are dismissed."

With Leo done explaining his plan, Donnie and Mikey headed to the door and left without interference. Leo expected Raph to leave so he could have one-on-one training with Karai, but instead, he stayed.

"Leo, we need to talk."

"About what?" Leo asked his immediate younger brother. His eyes said, _Make it fast. I need to help Karai_.

"In private."

Leo sighed, but looked at the kunoichi, who had been looking back at him expectantly. "Sorry, Karai, but we'll have to practice later because-"

"Yeah, sure. Whatever. It's fine," Karai dismissed as she left the dojo.

"Well, Raph, what do you need?" Leo asked, turning to his brother in red.

Raph didn't bother to sugarcoat his question. But that wasn't surprising, considering his fiery personality.

"Why do you spend so much time with her?"

"What do you mean? She needs the help-"

Raph interrupted. "You like her, don't you?"

"Well, yeah, she's kind of our sister now. It's kind of hard to not like someone you live with." As soon as the words left Leo's mouth, he couldn't help but think about how ironic that statement was, considering his love-hate relationship with Raph.

"That's not what I mean, and you know it."

The sharp statement forced Leo to look straight into Raph's emerald green eyes. "Raph-"

"You love her, more than a sister," Raph claimed almost carelessly, spinning his sai like usual.

"Well, I- I-"

"See? I knew it," Raph smirked triumphantly. "That's why you trust her so much."

Leo groaned. "Seriously, Raph? Not that again."

Raph stopped spinning his sai. "Yeah. You're right. I've told ya that too many times."

"So why did you ask me that if you already knew?"

"Why do you only care about _her_ , Leo?"

"What- what do you mean, Raph? I care about you and Mikey and Donnie, too," Leo asked, confused. Sure, he cared about Karai, but he cared about his brothers, too. Of course he did. He would never _not_ care about them. Especially because he was the _leader_...

"Then why don't you act like it?"

The question, though simple it seemed, stung Leo as if he'd been punched in the face. "What?"

"It's always Karai this, Karai that. It's never about Mikey or Donnie or me. You never spar with me anymore. You never lecture me when I go topside at night anymore. Heck, Leo, you barely even _talk_ to me anymore! It's like I don't even _exist_ in your world!"

"Raph..."

"Forget it, Leo." Raph tucked his sai back in his belt. "Forget about me if that's what _you_ want." With that, Raph turned on his heels and left, leaving his brother shocked and dumbfounded.

"Raph, I-" The words left Leo's lips, soft and unheard. Ignored.

 _Forgotten._

Was that really how Raph felt? As if Leo didn't care about him anymore? As if Leo forgot he was even there? Raph wasn't always on Leo's good side, but that didn't mean Leo threw him aside like a piece of trash. Sure, Leo _had_ been spending a lot more time with Karai lately, but he still talked to Raph sometimes...

Now that he thought about it, Leo realized Raph's accusations were, unfortunately, accurate. The only times Leo acknowledged him were during meals and training. Even then, Leo was more focused on Karai.

Then a surprising realization dawned upon Leo.

Was Raph... _jealous_? Was he jealous that Karai was receiving more attention that himself?

Maybe _that_ was why he hated Karai so much.

 _Why didn't I realize it?_ Leo wondered guiltily. _Because I was spending too much time with Karai. Duh._

"I'm sorry, Raph," he whispered. But his apology was unheard. Ignored.

Forgotten.

* * *

 **A/N: So what did you guys think of that? Surprising? Not surprising?**


	12. Win

**A/N: Ughh, all my teachers have been trying to cram tests in before Thanksgiving Break! Sooo evil! Dx**

 **But have no fear, guys... I'm done with all my tests, and I'm so happy about it, so I made this chapter filled with action! :D**

 **I don't own TMNT.**

* * *

"It's time."

Their weapons clashed to the ground. The turtles (plus Karai) had been practicing for weeks, waiting for this moment. Now they looked up expectantly at Leo, his midnight blue eyes turning into opaque white slits.

"We're going. Now."

Raphael cracked his knuckles, a smirk wide across his face. "Time to bash some Foot!"

"And fry some fish!" chimed Mikey, that joke being his favorite among his ones about their enemy.

Donnie was excited as well. "And test out my newest inventions, like those plasma cutting knives that I developed using nuclear-"

Raph cut him off, rolling his eyes. "We get it, Brainiac. Let's go."

As the others headed out the lair, Karai couldn't help but ask, "You sure I'm ready, Leo?"

Leo smiled at her. "Ready as ever, Karai."

A burst of confidence surged through her. She _had_ been practicing, almost religiously, to overcome the Shredder. Days and nights, minutes and hours, weeks...

...almost two months.

Maybe he was right.

Maybe it was time to take the Foot down, once and for all.

* * *

Leo ran ahead of his brothers and sister, leading the pack, as usual.

Just a week ago, Raph had accused him of forgetting about him. Leo had tried to make it up to him. Playing video games. Sparring. Talking. Though Raph seemed slightly less salty about it, he still was, nonetheless.

The thought that Raph was jealous that Karai was receiving more attention than him still plagued Leo's mind. _But I need time to be myself, Raph. I need to relax, too._

 _So if Karai helps me relax, can't I hang out with her? What's wrong with that?_

Leo had so badly wanted to ask Raph those questions, those questions that would never leave his already busy mind alone. But Raph was almost never in the mood to talk about "emotional stuff," or "deep questions," so he always shrugged them off like he didn't care.

 _But sometimes, Raph, these are things you need to care about. You can't just run away from your problems..._

"What's keeping you, Fearless?"

Raph's voice broke Leo from his thoughts, and then he realized he had stopped on a lone rooftop, somewhat near the Foot Headquarters.

Leo fumbled for words to make an excuse. "We need to make sure we're all on track, and that we all know the plan." Maybe Leo wasn't the best at making excuses, but he was thankful for how natural he'd sounded at that one.

Raph, in the meanwhile, was not impressed (though that was not surprising; he could always see through Leo as if he were a piece of glass). Crossing his arms, he said, "Oh, like you haven't gone over it 300 times already! Look, Leo, I know you wanna be all careful and stuff, but I think we get it. Right, guys?"

"Uh-huh," Donnie nodded, having an inexplicable memory. Karai nodded as well. Only Mikey stood, completely oblivious to everyone as he hummed some tunes from his T-Pod.

"Mikey!" Raph yelled, but the orange clad turtle just kept on humming, obviously in his own world. "MIKEY!" Raph slapped Mikey's head.

"OWWW! Dude, what was _that_ for?" Mikey rubbed his head in pain.

Leo sighed. "Guys, now is _not_ the time for..." He trailed off as soon as he saw Raph grabbing one of Donnie's laser-plasma knives and heading to the Foot Headquarters. "Raph, wait-"

Raph cut open a hole in one of the topmost walls of the Foot Headquarters before heading inside.

"-for us." Leo sighed again, then gestured for the rest of the gang to follow Raph. Luckily, the red clad turtle had the sense to wait for them inside (though waiting for them _before_ going inside of the Foot HQ would have been a more smarter, logical idea).

The HQ was almost the same as it had been the last time they'd broken in, minus for a few added security cameras. The gang used their shuriken to disable them all before heading down an all-too familiar hallway...

...to the Shredder's room.

Walking sneakily and cautiously to avoid attention and booby traps, they made their way down the eerily dark hallway before stopping behind the door that led to the Shredder's room. Karai mutated into her snake form, using her fangs to unlock the door.

"Woah," breathed Mikey. "That's SO COO-"

" _Shut up!_ " hissed Raph. Mikey quivered back in fear, expecting Raph to slap him once more, but was surprised when he didn't receive one.

Very, very slowly, slower than a turtle's crawling pace, Karai opened the door with her tail. In the dimness of the room, they could see a mutated big cat snoring soundly on a soft plush bed.

 _Tiger_ _Claw._

Everyone quickly put on their poison masks as Donnie reached for a glass vial filled with a green-brown substance - poison gas, only more upgraded and deadly than the last one. The purple clad turtle motioned for everyone to stand back. Once they had, he took off the tight cork sealing the gas before letting it all out in the room.

Almost immediately, Tiger Claw began coughing and aroused. "What- is- that- smell?" he rasped between hacking coughs.

The gang dashed out of the room, shutting the door behind them. "We have to hurry!" Leo called out to them, and they nodded. There was no time to waste. There was no telling how long it would take before the tiger was killed inside out. No chances could be taken if they wanted to get out alive.

They rushed to Stockman's room, to the lab, to the Foot Bot room, to the technical room, to Rahzar's room, to Fishface's room.

Once they'd exited his room, Mikey cheered. "YES! The fish has been fried! Time for a victory dance!"

"Let's get the heck outta here first," Raph said.

"Wait," Leo said. "We need to destroy this place."

Donnie knew what he meant and looked reluctantly at him. "Are you sure, Leo? Because-"

"I'm sure, Don."

Leo looked at him. Donnie sighed, not being much of a believer in combustion (also known as "blowing stuff up"), but reached for the homemade explosive bombs anyway. He helped Leo set it up before they ignited it.

 _KABOOM!_

The Foot Headquarters exploded right then and there. Shards of glass and bricks were everywhere, spread out over a span of several miles.

But it wasn't their problem.

Their problem was over.

The Foot was gone.

 _The Shredder_ was gone. He had no more connections to the Foot, so he could no longer bother the Hamato Clan.

Finally, they had won, once and for all.

* * *

 **A/N: Hope I didn't rush that too much... but hey! Yay! The Shredder's gone!**

 **...Or is he really?**

 ***laughs* Nah, I'm just messing with you. I'm done with him as much as you guys are.**

 **Next chapter will probably be an epilogue of some sorts. Stay tuned :)**


	13. Epilogue: Brighter Than the Stars

**A/N: And here we are. The end. Wow. I can't believe it!**

 **I don't own TMNT.**

* * *

 ** _Epilogue_**

"Haha, I beat you again!" Mikey laughed as he showed off his new high score. He had been playing a pinball marathon with Karai, who had little previous experience with the game. After all, the Foot Headquarters didn't have many entertainments. But that didn't matter anymore, now that she was living with the turtles in their lair.

Karai raised an eyebrow at the joyous turtle. "You sure about that?" she asked, before playfully shoving him out of the way. "Let's see who's the pinball boss _now_!"

Leo, who'd been watching her play, smiled. She was so much like Raph: her cocky, sometimes rebellious attitude; her desire to pick a fight; her boldness; her rashness. But it was all those components that made Leo so close to Raph... and fall in love with Karai.

A light punch on the shoulder shook the turtle out of his thoughts. "Hey, Fearless, wanna go spar in the dojo?"

Tearing his gaze off Karai, Leo turned to the red clad turtle. "Sure, Raph." Leo had finally found a happy medium between spending time with Karai and his brothers. He would help Karai train, or just talk to her, in little bits and chunks out of the day, but if Raph needed someone to spend time with, then that was his first priority. _Brothers first._

In the dojo, the brothers unsheathed their weapons and began fighting. Raph thrust his sais forward, but Leo blocked them with his swords. Leo kicked, aiming for the center of Raph's stomach, which would send him backwards. But Raph quickly dodged out of the way and instead, sent a punch towards Leo's mouth, which the leader swiftly blocked.

"So, Leo, I was thinking," Raph casually started, "I was, ya know, kinda being unfair."

Leo, who had just been dodging a roundhouse kick from Raph, looked up at him in interest.

Raph tucked his sais away, signaling the end of the fight. "I mean, I shouldn't have stopped you from having a crush on Karai. 'Cause if Donnie has a crush, why can't you?"

Leo sheathed his double katana. Raph was being _serious_ \- "emotional" - for once...

"I guess I was just... I was just.." Raph stumbled over his words, looking down at the floor.

Leo hid his smile. He knew that the tough turtle hated to admit his feelings. "What, Raph?" he asked, almost innocently.

"I was jealous," Raph spilled out. "I didn't want to be, but I didn't like seeing you spend so much time with _her_ and then just act like I was a nobody. That's why I was so angry around her. I wanted to get her away from you, but it didn't work. It was like that made you ignore me _more_. I tried ignore it and keep it in, but I couldn't. I had to let it all out." Raph reached behind his neck to scratch it awkwardly. "Listen, Leo, I- I'm sorry."

"It's alright, Raph," Leo responded with a smile. "I forgave you long ago."

At that, Raph's head jerked upwards to look at his older brother, shock clearly written all over his face. "What? You _knew_?" Then his expression changed to one of understanding, and he smiled. "'Course you did, Fearless."

Leo smiled and nudged Raph playfully. "What's a brother for?"

* * *

Later that night, the Hamato Clan had gone patrolling. But with the Foot gone, their Headquarters being exploded still making headlines on the news, little trouble had erupted. It was more of them goofing off rather than checking for trouble.

After an hour without goons or robbers to stop, Mikey, Raph, and Donnie all ran off into the night to play a game of Ninja Tag. But Leo and Karai had both sat out, wanting some time to themselves.

They sat on a rooftop next to each other, their legs dangling off the edge.

"You know, Leo," Karai began, "I never really did thank you for helping me get adjusted to my real family and stopping the Shredder for messing with me. So, I just wanted to say, thanks. For everything."

Leo blushed, his cheeks turning bright red, but luckily for him, the darkness of the night masked it. "It was nothing."

Karai smiled at the turtle's modesty, yet another aspect of him she admired.

She gazed up at the night sky, little bright stars dotting the blackness, shining down at them.

As she admired the beautiful stars, Leo couldn't help but gaze at Karai. The wisps of her hair flowing down the sides of her head. Those bright amber eyes, browner and silkier than chocolate, brighter than the stars twinkling down at them. He couldn't help but wonder, _Who took the stars out of the sky and put them in your eyes_?

Karai whipped around to look at Leo, who hadn't realized he had said that aloud. Bright red creeped onto his face again, but he didn't mind.

Her lips curved upwards. With him, she felt loved. Safe. Wanted.

But she wanted more.

Without thinking - part of her bold disposition - she reached for his hand and gripped it tightly, tenderly. They looked at each other, their smiles wider than the sky.

And before she could realize it, Leo let go of her hand and let his arm drape gently against her figure.

And before she could realize it, Leo's head was inching closer and closer to hers, his warm breath on her face.

And before she could realize it, his lips were pressed against hers in a soft, sweet kiss.

After a few seconds, he drew away. "I love you, Karai," he whispered.

And before she could realize it, she was answering back for the first time. "I love you too, Leo," she murmured, pulling him towards her for another kiss.

* * *

 **A/N: And they lived happily ever after! ;)**

 **Fyi - I do NOT support incest/T-Cest, but it doesn't really feel like Leo and Karai are siblings. They didn't grow up together, and they're not related by blood or anything, so that's why I support Leorai.**

 **I know it seems like I rushed a bit at the end of this fic. :/ I'm sorry. But the thing is, school is being so hectic, and I don't know how much longer I can keep up with writing AND homework/studying. So I tried to end this so I wouldn't have to worry about it. I know, I know, lame excuse. But I'll be less stressed this way, and I think I did okay (rhyme not intended :P).**

 **And now... drumroll please!**

 **Shout-outs to:**

 _ **Difani-Sani**_ **, for always reviewing every chapter and providing great feedback. And being an amazing person overall. THANK YOU! :D**

 _ **No Guns Only Roses,**_ **for also always reviewing every chapter and being an awesome friend. Thanks! c:**

 _ **TMNT Loving Leo the Second,**_ **for the reviews/messages that make me smile and laugh. What would I do without you? ;)**

 _ **Guest,**_ **because I almost never receive anonymous reviews, so yours made me smile. c:**

 **A BIG thank you to everyone who read/reviewed/followed/favorited! It always makes my day!**

 **To be honest, I really don't think I'm going to write any more multi-chapter stories (at least, long ones). They take too much time. :/ Maybe during longer breaks off from school, but I honestly don't know. I WILL be active on fanfic though, reading other stories and maybe writing one-shots and poems and stuff. So keep on the lookout! :)**

 **Thank you all AGAIN! It's been a long, wild ride, but I really did enjoy it while it lasted! :)**

 **Happy Thanksgiving! I'm thankful for all of you! ;)**

 **~NS**


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